Hey, I don't believe in magic, at least not in the sense some do (good sleight of hand is another thing entirely). So I think you, Krystal, are correct in many ways. However, I also agree with Mr. Li that the current models of how the human animal moves, can move, can develop are probably in their infancies. And then there's the fact that I really don't need to know that it is an electrical impulse that fires that informs my muscle to move in order to sit here and type.

The problem, of course, is explaining how this stuff works sufficiently well to allow for transmission and possibly advances in training. There's where I think the models have fallen apart. I think there are those who have developed some degree of these skills but the reality is that even they really don't know what it is they're doing on a higher level. Which makes for a devilishly difficult problem when it comes time to teach. Yes, we have the old, traditional Chinese explanations but hopefully at some point some additional clarity will be found. So I think we *do* need people to ask these questions, to push, to study, to try different things. And with increased clarity of *how* some of these things might be happening will hopefully come better methods for teaching and hopefully new insights.

But this will require an interaction between people to happen. And open minds. And cooperation rather than confrontation. And then also consider that much of this might be totally irrelevant to wide swaths of what is called the Aikido Community. Things evolved and many are quite happy with where they find themselves and I think that should be respected as well.

But it has to go both ways...

So find a place to train. Keep an open mind. Stay critical. Then train and train some more. The rest, well, it's all just discussion and debate. Proof is when the hands cross...